What the Rain Brings
by Willow Earthflame
Summary: This is a Created character based story, using Kimblee as the bad guy. Kimblee does bad bad things to Lt. Colonel Lara Skye. Bad bad Kimblee....read inside for more details. Rated M for language and graphic violence.


Willow: Okay, so here's the deal. This is my first FMA fanfiction, and it's mostly not even centered on the main characters in the show (psh, my bad). This is a story about my character, Lara, my best friend's character, Jeff, and the "evil" Kimblee. I'm sadistic and tend to like torturing the "good guys" so, yeah, its a bit...shall we say...slightly graphic? If you don't want to read it, then dont. If you want to know more about the characters, send me an email or leave a raving review! Any ideas you think you'de like to see written out into a story, tell me! Otherwise, keeping in mind that I make Kimblee do mean mean things to my girl, enjoy!

What the Rain Brings

Written by Willow Earthflame

It was 11 p.m. in Central, a time when alchemists, soldiers and officers, and civilians alike would either still be at work, coming home from work, or going to bed…if they got dinner, by some miracle.

Down in the residential district of Central, in a house completely wired for electricity (one of the few around), Colonel Jeff Malloy looked down at his watch. He had been waiting for an hour for his partner and best friend, Lt. Colonel Lara Skye to join him for dinner. He was kind of insulted that she still hadn't shown yet because he had actually taken the initiative to cook for them…not something he did for just anybody. He never said that his cooking was good…but it was the thought that counted!

He sighed and got up from his seat in the spacious living room of his house, and went into the kitchen to put the food in the oven to stay warm while he went looking for his missing subordinate. Shrugging on his black duster coat over his gray sweater and blue jeans, he picked up his keys and headed out to his car.

She opened her eyes slowly, painfully aware of the pounding in the back of her skull. It was too dark for her to tell where she was, but she did know that she was in a large room and that it had been raining…she could feel the moisture in the air. She could also smell blood…her own blood, dripping slowly from a rather large gash in the back of her head. A few tears fell from her eyes before she again lost consciousness, really too beat up to keep awake.

The dark form in the corner grinned. His eyes sparkled menacingly as he slowly moved forward to the prone form on the floor. He was going to finish having fun with his new little homemade bomb, hopefully before any of her lame little friends got around to looking for her. But…he had been in prison so long…

Lara Skye was not going to be a happy woman when she awoke…

As much as he hated doing it, The Spark Alchemist decided to call his fellow officer and friend, Col. Roy Mustang. He knew the lazy Flame Alchemist would probably be in bed by now, but he didn't care. He had been all over Central HQ, and he could find Lara nowhere. He had gone by her apartment after trying to call her about a dozen times, and she was still nowhere to be found. A groggy, somewhat annoyed voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Mustang!"

"Malloy? What in the hell are you doing calling at this hour? I was trying to sleep, thank you. Was having a nice dream too…about female officers…in miniskirts…."

"Shut the hell up Mustang. I don't have time for your stupid dreams right now. I can't find Lara. Where was the last place you saw her? I know for a fact that she was near your offices all day today."

Mustang sat up, a little more awake now, and thought for a moment.

"Did you already try looking in my offices? You have the keys, you know."

"Yes, yes, I know. I already looked…. she wasn't there."

Mustang shook his head.

"Malloy, did you try the secret room behind the bookcase?"

Jeff almost screamed in frustration. Fucking bastard Flame Alchemist! He hung up in Mustang's face, not bothering to thank him, and ran to his car, heading back to Central HQ, to look behind the bookcase.

Stupid fucking Flamer.

The Crimson Alchemist almost chuckled with…glee…as he roped the Ice Alchemist's arms above her head. Hell, her clothes were long gone; he had gotten rid of those damn things when he took care of his…needs. The scent of her blood on her body and around the room was making him happy as hell and only made him want to hurt her more. That, and he knew by hurting Lara, he would piss of the Spark Alchemist…he'd been waiting a long time to get rid of that full-of-himself-know-it-all bastard. The girl made perfect bait.

He pulled on the rope to pull her up, and was rewarded with a pained moan. Except for the blood running out of the gash on the back of her head and from between her legs, she was perfectly unharmed. For now. But he was soon to change that. He _had_ always loved torture. Sure, he could just blow the girl up, but what fun would that be when he could do so much _more_ to her?

He pulled a bag out from under the only table in the room, and set said bag upon it. Untying the straps that held it closed, he rolled it open, and another grin spread across his darkly handsome, disturbing face. Inside was a fine assortment of knives, all at different sharpness, from the most razor-sharp to the dull (the dull ones were great for getting cries of pain, because it was so hard to draw the blood). There were also a few whips of varying lengths and materials as well. It was a whip he decided to use first. Selecting a rather mean looking one, he ran the hard leather through his hands before he let the whip fly.

A half-conscious scream ripped from Lara's mouth as the leather raised a painful welt on her left side. He whipped at her again, this time tearing through her flesh, and the scent of blood from her new wound mingled with the old blood, and made his blood boil with utter excitement. He let the whip fly, again and again, and reveled in the screams ripping from her mouth, the tears of pain dripping down her face. If she had been asleep or unconscious earlier, she most definitely was not now!

Tiring of the whip, he dropped it to the ground and walked back over to the table and his bag of weapons, his toys. He selected two daggers, one sharp, one dull, and smiled to himself. He was going to enjoy making her scream for mercy.

Malloy was just inside the front doors of the empty Central HQ when he heard a scream, and his blood ran cold. Running faster than he thought possible, he dashed up two flights of stairs and down a few hallways before he made it to Mustang's office. Fumbling with the keys in his hands, it took him a few moments to get the door open, and all the while, he was hearing screams and cries, cries that couldn't be heard outside the building. He ran over to the bookcase inside and, not seeing anything on the wall or nearby to pull to open the bookcase, he tried the books, ripping them off of the shelves as fast as he could until he tugged on one that did not come out, but down.

The bookcase immediately sprang open, and the Spark Alchemist was through it in a matter of seconds. He was then greeted with the sight of the Ice Alchemist, poor Lara Skye, hanging from the ceiling by her wrists, bleeding all over, and Kimblee looking over at him with a huge grin on his face, and a bloody corkscrew in one hand. Jeff howled in rage, and sprang at the Crimson Alchemist, raw, unchecked anger getting in the way of his better judgment at the moment. If you saw your best friend hanging from a ceiling, naked and bleeding, you'd probably feel that way too. Kimblee moved too fast though, and, corkscrew and weapons forgotten, he placed his hands against the triple thick glass in the only window in the room, and alchemically blew it apart. And then he was gone.

The urge to follow the Crimson Alchemist was great, but Jeff knew Lara needed him far too much right now. Trying to calm his anger, he hurried back over to the Ice Alchemist, and as gently as possible, took her from her hanging position, and laid her on the floor. He then hurried out into the office to look for spare blankets, cloth, anything that could help stop Lara's bleeding (he hadn't inspected the wounds yet), and made a short call to one of the few people that could really help him. He dialed the number, and waited impatiently for it to pick up.

"Hello?" spoke a rather detached, cold female voice.

"Sarah? It's Jeff. I need your help."

"You…need my help? With what? Mustang sexually harassing your female officers again?"

"No, Sarah. Not this time anyway. Lara's been hurt, badly, and Kimblee is on the loose. I really need you to find him and detain him…detain, not kill."

"So Kimblee hurt Lara? Ah, too bad."

"Sarah…"

"All right. I'm going. It's not like I had anything better to do tonight anyway, little brother. Where will you be when I find your little toy?"

"Hospital or my place. Check my place first though, okay? Thank you, Sis."

"Yeah, fine, whatever. I'm going to blow something of him away though, so you might not have a whole Kimblee to question. Or torture. Later."

And she hung up. Jeff had a few blankets and a towel in arm, and went back into the "secret room" to Lara, whose breathing was horribly shallow, her blood was everywhere. But she was still conscious, so he tried asking her some questions.

"Lara, can you hear me?"

She nodded her head.

"Can you speak?"

She shook her head.

"Fine, then just point. Where do you hurt the most?"

She pointed, with effort, at her whole body, and then concentrated her pointing down in the lower region of her body. He could see there was a lot of blood between her legs, and his eyes narrowed in anger. He was going to kill that rat bastard Kimblee if it was the last thing he did. He had no fucking RIGHT to touch Lara. Jeff reached out a hand to wipe some of the blood off of her face and shoulders, but she flinched, hard, away from him, and cried out in pain. Apparently it didn't matter to her right now that he was her best friend. She was afraid…very afraid of anything male at the moment, it seemed.

"Lara, you have to let me touch you. I'm not going to hurt you. I have to touch you though, because I have to stop the bleeding, or you'll die. Can you let me do that, Please? Don't be afraid of me. I'm your best friend. I'm here to help, I promise.

A look of wild fear showed in her eyes, but she nodded slowly. He moved very slowly, though he could ill afford to, and tied off her wounds as best he could until he could get help, all the while, coming up with ways to destroy Kimblee for ever touching his precious Lara. Nobody fucked with his partner, his best friend, and got away with it. Kimblee was not going to be a very happy prisoner when Jeff got a hold of him…that is, if there was much of him left when Sarah got done with him.

It was about ten minutes later that Kimblee found himself at his old house. The place was dark and abandoned, it seemed, but he knew better. The military just didn't want to destroy the place because there might have been valuable information inside. But, he grinned, they knew better than to step inside his abode…he had homemade bombs everywhere, and he was the only one who knew exactly where they all were, and how to keep them from going off. Yeah, his favorite way to blow things up was to do it directly, but you had to do what you had to do.

He made his way inside and up the stairs to his old bedroom, undisturbed for quite a few years, and stripped off his blood-soaked clothing. With a huge sigh (at not being able to finish playing with the Ice Alchemist, probably) he made his way into the bathroom attached to his room and turned on the water, scalding hot. After a short but thorough shower, he stepped out and dried himself off, and made his way back into his bedroom, where he was greeted with the sight of a blonde-haired woman waiting on his bed.

"Took you long enough," she said, a dark, disturbing grin on her pale face.

"Major Sarah Malloy," he sneered as he dropped the towel and got dressed, not bothered in the slightest that Jeff Malloy's sister, an _extremely _dangerous woman, even without her whip (held tightly in her hand), was sitting on his bed. When he was finished, he turned back to her.

"Your brother sent you after me? Ah, poor little bastard must be pretty pissed to send the firing squad."

Sarah just smirked lightly as she stood, her hands hanging loosely at her sides. She didn't say another word, but her whip flashed out, and caught him around the neck before he even had a chance to move. He growled angrily and grabbed the length of whip right in front of his face, ready to break it apart.

"One, I wouldn't try do destroy the whip if I were you. I'll have your head off before you could even summon the energy to move. Two, I'm not to kill you, so don't push me. Accidents happen, and I'll not be blamed for my captive's stupidity…"

Kimblee frowned. "And three?"

"I never said I wasn't going to play with you like you played with the Ice Alchemist, "she said, her grin the most sick and sadistic it had been in a while.

It had gotten cold suddenly, in the middle of the summer's night in Central, and The Flame Alchemist pulled his jacket just a little tighter around him as he and his subordinate (also his best friend and fiancé) made their way towards Central HQ. He had gotten another call from Malloy about fifteen minutes ago, and he and Riza were ready in minutes and out the door to find the Spark and Ice Alchemists.

Riza held in her hands a medical kit she had put together a while back. She had taken advanced training in the medical field a few years ago, and had kept it up while she improved her shooting skills and did her work for Mustang. She was not a certified doctor yet, but she had the skills to do almost everything a doctor could. This would be very helpful in the hours to come, she figured, because from what she heard from Mustang, Lara was in pretty bad shape, and couldn't be moved.

In five more minutes, they were up the stairs and in the presence of the fallen Ice Alchemist. Mustang's mouth thinned into a barely perceptible line of flesh, but Riza was not so adept at keeping her shock from being seen. Malloy was sitting with his back to a wall, holding Lara's hand, his face, arms, hands, and clothing covered in blood, but none of it his own. Lara was lying with a makeshift pillow under her head, and was covered up from neck to knees, and it was obvious where Malloy tried to tie off her wounds to stop the bleeding.

The Ice Alchemist was awake, but just barely. Malloy had been keeping her awake for the last fifteen minutes by squeezing her hand, shaking her arm, and talking to her. All she wanted to do was sleep. Just fall into blessed, painless sleep. She was angry with her partner for not letting her get the rest she needed, but she also had no memory of what had happened, or what was going on. All she knew was that she was in a lot of pain, and the world was spinning.

"Finally here, Flamey? Took you long enough," Malloy said tiredly. Spotting Riza standing still with the medical supplies in hand, he spoke to her. "Are you going to use that stuff or not, Hawkeye? She's bleeding to death here!"

Lt. Col. Riza Hawkeye sprang into action then, sending Malloy and Mustang to get cool and warm water, and plenty of rags and cloths, from wherever; she didn't care, so that she could clean Lara up. While they were doing that, Riza checked the woman's pulse, and her breathing. Neither was very good, but she couldn't do much about that now. She absolutely had to stop the bleeding or Lara would die before they could even get her to the hospital.

Roy and Jeff returned at the same moment, both setting their buckets of water within easy reach of Riza's capable hands. Getting their assistance, she cleaned Lara up as fast and as best she could, and while cleaning her, patched up her wounds with gauze and a little healing salve a doctor friend had given her. She then pulled a spare set of blankets from her bag and ordered Malloy to wrap Lara tightly in them, one to stop the excess blood from flowing, if it did, and two, to keep her warm and from moving too much. He did as he was told, not caring that she was not only lower ranked, but under someone else's command.

Mustang looked solemnly down at Malloy as he did as Riza instructed, and noted that the usual hardness in Malloy's eyes was gone, replaced by a worry that surpassed even fear for his own life. The Spark Alchemist must really care about Lara, he surmised…but that was easy enough to figure out anyway, for they were generally never out of one another's company, even when they were off duty. When he was done, Roy helped Malloy lift Lara into his arms, and making sure her head was resting against Jeff's shoulder, he helped Riza quickly pick up her medical supplies and lock up before they all headed downstairs and to Mustang's waiting car.

Jeff slipped into the backseat, Lara cradled carefully in his arms, his jaw set but his eyes alive with worry. He couldn't keep his gaze off of her, his anger at the Crimson Alchemist for ever touching his best friend only barely masked by his worry. Roy and Riza climbed into the front and they were off, heading towards Central's best hospital. Malloy looked out the window as they sped through Central and prayed, to any deity listening, that they would get to the hospital in time, for Lara's sake.

Kimblee hissed in an effort to muffle a pained groan. Sarah currently had him up by the wrists, as he had had Lara, and was using her unusually sharp, pointed nails to rip through his skin, slowly. He could handle pain, quite well, in fact, but she was using some form of alchemy to make it hurt so much worse…he had no idea what she was doing, but he was really starting to hate the smell of his own blood in the air. The moment the bitch took the whip off his neck, though, and she was dead meat.

"Aren't we having fun yet?" she smirked as she took her gun out and pointed it at a minimally important part of his anatomy and shot, the bullet ripping right through his flesh.

"No, you sadistic cow," he hissed.

"Now, now, don't be rude to your hostess…" she chuckled.

"Hostess? Lady, this is MY house. You're no hostess, and forgive my earlier words, but you are NO lady!"

"Yeah, and you see me being insulted how?"

He growled low in his throat, but again, till she removed that whip, he couldn't do dick. It really pissed him off. She just grinned at his anger and pressed her bare hand against the bare flesh of his chest and smiled. He was in deep shit from here on in.

The doctors had taken Lara the moment they walked into the hospital. Jeff Malloy's jaw was set with worry and determination to be with her every step of the way…but the damned doctors wouldn't let him back! He was getting angry, and his golden blonde hair was starting to stand on end…little lightning shocks flowing through it. A nurse walked up to him and, seeing the look in his eyes, deigned not to touch him.

"Colonel Malloy?" she said softly. "Are you all right? Can we get anything for you?"

"Let me back there with Lt. Colonel Skye, now." he said, his tone giving no room for a compromise. The nurse looked at him nervously, afraid to anger him lest he use Alchemy on her, and hurried back to find the doctors, more afraid of the Spark Alchemist now than the anger of her own superiors.

Ten minutes later one of the doctors came out, a worried look in his own eyes, and pulled Malloy aside to speak to him…or rather, motioned for the alchemist to come to him, since he didn't want to be shocked to hell. Malloy nodded curtly and listened to what the doctor said, anger written all over his face. And the anger was ruling out right now, little bolts of electricity shooting off his fingers and hair. Mustang saw this, and ignoring the shocks of electricity up his arms, he and Hawkeye took Malloy outside to…try to calm him down before he literally killed the doctor.

"What did the he say?" Hawkeye asked softly, her woman's voice less likely to piss him off even more than Roy's.

"Lara's lost…a lot of blood," he said, taking deep breaths, but his voice strangely shaky. "The damned doctor that came out to me told me she's in surgery right now, to try to fix or at least mend the broken bones and ripped muscles. She won't stop bleeding though…they're going to lose her if they don't hurry…and I refuse to lose her!"

Mustang was looking off at the sky, but still listening. He had never heard Malloy so passionate about anything, not even his research on the philosopher's stone. He would kill the doctors, but then they wouldn't be able to help Lara. So instead, he settled for the next best thing…he was going to kill Kimblee himself. And he was going to enjoy it too.

Sarah was grinning, her sky-blue eyes sparkling with glee as she marched Kimblee, or what was left of him after she got done playing with him, over to her brother's abode. Halfway there, though, she met up with said brother in a large park, who didn't spare her one word, but punched Kimblee as hard as he could in the face, a fair amount of his electrical alchemy behind it too. It didn't appease him, though, to hear the bones in Kimblee's nose breaking. He proceeded to knock the Crimson Alchemist to the ground and pummel the hell out of him, severe burn marks appearing wherever Malloy's fist met with Kimblee's skin.

Sarah stood back and watched, a disturbing look of pleasure shining in her eyes at her brother's total lost of control. It was refreshing to see him as anything other than the calm, cool little bastard he usually was. She was fully prepared to stand there and watch her brother kill the other man, but Mustang came running up, and as soon as he was close enough, pulled the Spark Alchemist from his bleeding target.

"WHAT!" he bellowed, his eyes narrowed with extreme rage, clouds rolling in the sky to hover over the area that Malloy stood, bolts of lighting striking down randomly, the power of his anger combining with the power of his alchemy to create a storm.

Mustang didn't say a word. He had gotten Jeff off of Kimblee long enough to let him calm down a little…but still it didn't work. Kimblee was able to get to his feet, holding his nose to staunch the bleeding, but the little chunks of skin and muscle practically blown out of his legs making it a little more than hard. Malloy ignored Mustang and turned back to Kimblee, who despite all odds was actually farther away than Jeff would've expected. Nonetheless, he grinned an angry, feral grin.

"You…are going to die tonight," Jeff said dangerously, simply. The only words he spoke as he drew the electricity from the ground and sky alike, pulling a great amount of it into his hands.

"I'm shaking in my boots," Kimblee said sarcastically through the blood and broken teeth in his mouth. How he could be a smartass with his life about to be snuffed out was beyond Hawkeye, who had finally caught up with Mustang. But she watched, nonetheless.

Jeff did not hesitate to direct the lightning at Kimblee, but the fight was interrupted almost immediately. In rage, Jeff directed his lightning at the creatures that were coming to help Kimblee…the homunculi. Well, actually, only one Homunculus; But Greed had his little chimera cronies with him, so it was almost as bad. The largest one, Law, was a lot quicker than he looked or seemed, and in moments was across the large expanse of grass and had Kimblee up in his arms and out of harms way. Malloy directed his lightening at the retreating figure of the bull-chimera and probably would've gotten him too had Martel not made it across the same expanse of grass and attacked Malloy's face. Not that she got him, that is, but she tried, and was able to distract him long enough for her comrades to get away. Then she was gone in a flash.

The lightning storm still raged, as Malloy's anger grew at the fact that Kimblee had escaped. Personally, Sarah would've gone after him, but she knew how much her brother wanted to kill the man himself, so she let it be for now. Hawkeye walked calmly over to Jeff, regardless that she was being shocked by the electricity flowing off of his body she gently reached out a hand to place on his shoulder, but was pulled back by the waist. Mustang looked at her and shook his head, meaning that Jeff needed to calm down, _seriously_ calm down, before they could do anything.

Only ten minutes later, when Jeff was fractionally calmer and not trying to blow his sister up for teasing him about losing control like that, did he notice that Mustang and Hawkeye were talking to an underling of theirs, and the poor young man looked half frightened to death that Malloy would suddenly look at him and attack him. This made Jeff grin for maybe a half a second longer than he would have, but he and his sister were quickly walking towards Roy and Riza, and the underling ran off like death was on his heels.

"What's going on?" he asked, his voice still slightly shaking with anger. "And why'd the pipsqueak run off so fast?"

Mustang grinned. "Well, the pipsqueak, as you put it, ran because you looked like you were going to eat him alive, but he came to inform us that Lara is out of surgery and is in recovery. The doctors say she is doing well, now that they have been able to mend some of her broken bones. Apparently some of Dr. Marco's teachings landed on other ears too, because her muscles and bones were mended through Alchemy. The only thing she's suffering now is loss of blood and an intense fear of any male doctor who walks in the room," He grinned. "Would you like to go see her?"

Malloy ignored the smartass comment and started walking back towards the hospital, Sarah and Hawkeye right behind him. Mustang stayed in the field for a few more minutes, wondering about his friend…knowing that with Lara safe and on the way back to health, he'd be better, if not anything near calmer. So with a grin, he set off, even though he had his own worries about Kimblee, the Homunculi, and Lara herself. There was going to be a lot of fighting before this was all finished, and Colonel Jeff Malloy would make sure of it too.

Lara didn't open her eyes immediately after the anesthesia wore off, but instead listened to the sound around her. Her body hurt less than it did the last time she was awake, but she was keenly aware of how naked she was under the thin hospital blankets, and how uncomfortable and exposed it was making her feel. She hated this, was scared out of her wits…when she heard a familiar voice, demanding particularly loudly that it wanted to be let into the room to see its partner.

"NOW!" the voice shouted. "That woman needs me; I'm her best friend, her partner, and her…her…fiancée!"

Lara's eyes widened. Nice to know she had gained a fiancé while she had been incapacitated. But she still didn't remember much of what had happened to her before waking up first with Jeff kneeling over her, and again here. But nonetheless, it looked like they were going to let Malloy through. When the doctors had come in, she had involuntarily screamed at seeing some of them men, and they were immediately ushered out. Why was she so afraid, when she wasn't afraid to have Malloy see her? He walked into the room by himself, grass stains and blood soaking his ruined uniform. He hadn't had time to change before seeing her, that's how much of a hurry he had been in.

"How…are you feeling?" he asked softly, his voice much gentler than it had been a few moments ago. He sat down on a chair by the bed, but did not take her hand. While she may not have remembered what happened to herself, he did, and didn't want to frighten her unnecessarily.

She lifted a hand and beckoned him to come closer, and touched him anyway. She was scared of the doctors, but not him. It made sense, sort of. She'd have Malloy explain it to her later. For now, though, her slender hand cupped his cheek, and she smiled as his face turned towards her hand, almost cuddling it. She let her hand slide down his cheek, across his short beard, and down his neck before her hand dropped to her side again.

"I'm feeling better, now that you're here, Jeff," she said softly, very softly, for her throat was hoarse from all the screaming she had done earlier. She knew that much, at least. He smiled sadly at her, and she smiled back, and whispered his name as her eyes closed.

"Jeff," she murmured softly as she fell into a sleep that would restore her strength. "I'm you're fiancé, huh?"

Jeff looked at her, stunned, but smiled and held her hand while she slept through the night.

3 months later…

Lara had moved in with Jeff the week after she got out of the hospital. He wouldn't let her live alone with Kimblee still on the loose, and he happened to be footing the bill for her apartment (which wasn't actually that large, since she didn't use anything in it currently) for now. She had her own room on the second floor, as she had insisted, overlooking the garden that had been recently planted out back. It had small stone paths (for it was a rather large garden), and benches as well, to rest in the shade on nice days like today.

She smiled as she moved away from the window, out of her room, and into the main part of the house. She walked silently, a skill she had somehow learned in the months since her incident, and caught Jeff unawares in the kitchen, making lunch for them both. She graced him with a smile before she moved over to the breakfast bar and sat down, keeping him company.

A month after she got out of the hospital, she had demanded that Jeff tell what had happened to her. Her memories of the time had been pain-filled and extremely hazy, and though he had been extremely reluctant, he had spoken of it to her. He really didn't want to, but she was a very persuasive person. She had been horror-filled and so ashamed she had cried for nights after word, but Jeff always held her till she fell asleep, and she felt safe and eventually got over it. Not that she wouldn't like to take Kimblee apart herself, but they were still hunting him down, so she'd have to wait. As would Jeff. When he had served them both a fair amount of food, he sat down across from her and said the same four words he always said to her first these days.

"How are you feeling?"

She smiled and took a bite of the stew he had made. She had learned that he was indeed a good cook, and she particularly enjoyed the times that they actually had to sit down and eat with one another. It was rare, which made it all the more special to her. She didn't take anything for granted anymore.

"I'm feeling wonderful," she murmured as they ate through their stews together. Not much conversation, for she hadn't been to work in a while, but just the company of one another was enough for them. She smiled as she ate, looking down at the large, but fake, stone that adorned her ring finger. After his shouting match with the doctor's, rumor spread around Central that Colonel Jeff Malloy was finally engaged to someone, instead of being the lady's man he usually was. Oh, he never stopped being charming to the other ladies, but at least to the public, he was completely dedicated to their fake engagement. She knew it was fake, but sometimes, when he held her late at night after a particularly violent nightmare, she almost wished it was real. He liked to keep up appearances, and she would never think of doing anything but helping him. And when he disappeared most nights, she had no doubt he was pursuing his latest conquest, like Mustang used to, before he got engaged to Hawkeye.

Either way, she was particularly excited today. Only an hour after lunch, she'd be going back to work for the first time in three months. She was extremely excited, having loved her job and still loving it. Malloy would be accompanying her (or, to the view of others, her accompanying him as Riza did Roy), and they would continue to work together as before. The Lt. Colonel that had taken her place while she recuperated would be returning to his own station. Malloy looked particularly happy about that, and he said so as they drove to Headquarters. He grinned, and she didn't know what the grin was for, but she knew she'd probably find out.

Breda was having a hard time hiding his grin, keeping a straight face as commanding officers Colonel Jeff Malloy and Lt. Colonel Lara Skye walked into the room. Good thing he didn't have to much longer, as Falman, Feury, as well as Hawkeye and Mustang sprang out of their hiding places and scared the hell out of Lara. He hadn't expected her to scream shrilly and turn immediately into Malloy's arms, which he brought around her reassuringly before turning her back towards the small crowd of officers filing into the room now. She had a blush on her cheeks, but she smiled shyly.

"I guess this is my Welcome Back?" she said softy, a bright smile and her momentary fear gone. Riza nodded from where she stood beside Roy, and Feury and Falman came up and shook her hand gingerly, grins on their faces.

"Welcome back," they said respectfully.

She grinned and turned to Malloy.

"Did you plan this, doll?" she asked with a smile to warm his heart. He nodded.

"Knew you needed a pick-me-up," he said, grinning as he pushed her into the room. On one side of the office where this small party was being held, there was a long table covered with food. Though she was not very hungry, having just eaten lunch and not having much of an appetite anymore, she accepted the little slice of cake Riza served to her. She smiled at her friend, and walked back over to one of the desks and hopped on top of it. Lara ate her cake and watched as Riza fought with Breda over Black Hayate being in the office, and laughed when she saw Malloy and Mustang get in a fight about women…just like old times.

She smiled at herself when she realized that she was reminiscing again. She seemed to do that a lot these days. She remembered the day she got home from the hospital, how worried her "fiancé" had been. She almost laughed at the memory of him running around, getting her whatever she needed, worried to death that she would do something that would upset the cast on her leg or the stitches all over her body. But no…she was a good girl. She gave him no need to worry. Not much, anyway. Like, a few weeks after she was back, she had had to go to the bathroom, and he hadn't been home…well, let's just say a tumble down the stairs hadn't been what she needed! He had freaked out to find her passed out on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, and so brought her downstairs to rest while she was recuperating from her injuries...

Mustang walked up to her and pulled the empty plate out of her hands, for she had been staring of into space.

"Earth to Skye," he said, grinning at his own bad joke. "Come on, we can't have the rest of the party without you!"

She blinked and looked around, and noticed that everyone else had really quieted down and was sitting in a circle, waiting for her to join them. In the center of that circle was a small pile of presents. She bit her lip and nodded, following Mustang to their friends.

"You didn't have to do all this, you know," she murmured as she sat down, slightly embarrassed. Riza smiled kindly.

"Of course we didn't, Lara. But we wanted to," she said softly, sitting next to her best friend.

"Yeah, so open your presents now," Malloy said, grinning. In his pocket, he had a gift of his own to give her, something that would no doubt make her the happiest woman in the world…but he'd wait till last to give it to her.

But her gift opening was interrupted. A young officer ran into the room, panic written all over his face.

"Colonel Malloy, Colonel Mustang! Kimblee has just been sighted down by the park. He's making a mess! The Fuhrer wants you both on it, and now!" he said in a hurry, then ran back. Mustang and Malloy looked at each other and immediately forgot about the party as they headed for the door.

"Hold on!" Lara called out. "I'm going with you! I deserve to kick this guy's ass as much as you do!"

Jeff looked at her like she was crazy and she knew then that he wouldn't have left her behind anyway. She smiled and nodded, and after a moment to check that the little flasks were still attached to her belt, she followed the Flame and Spark Alchemists out the door.

Kimblee sat alone in the park, a happy grin on his face. He was practically fully healed now, with a little twinge of pain now and again, but he ignored those. They were unimportant. He was currently surrounded by the exploded remains of the military officers that had tried to subdue him. It made him smile to think about it. He knew in a matter of minutes, Malloy and Mustang and their little cronies would be here to fight him, and he looked forward to it. According to the snake-chimera, Martel, the Ice Alchemist had gone back to work today. So what better day to strike her back down than on her first? It was perfect, he knew it, and it made him grin like a madman. He couldn't wait.

Malloy arrived on the scene first, and his eyes widened momentarily in shock before they narrowed with renewed anger at seeing the former Crimson Alchemist. Immediately electricity sparked from his hands, and his hair stood on end as it usually did when he employed his alchemic ability. Lara was right behind him, and had to visibly work to keep from flinching at the sight of him. He grinned at this, and began to taunt her.

"Scared, little Ice girl?" he chuckled, rubbing his hands together with a grin.

"Do NOT speak to her, Kimblee," Jeff said, the anger in his voice barely masked. Kimblee was not going to escape this time; he would make sure of it. Mustang and Hawkeye showed up a few moments later, gloves on and guns drawn. Malloy completely ignored them, instead letting all of his attention rest on the former Crimson Alchemist. Kimblee didn't look at all worried, instead letting a cocky grin spread across his face. He had his own backup here, and he though he was pretty sure he wouldn't need their help, it never hurt to be prepared.

Lara took strength from the fact that this time she faced Zolf Kimblee, she would not be alone, that Jeff Malloy would be standing right beside her, in a manner of speaking. She uncorked the bottles at her waist and drew the water from them, holding it in the air with ease. Mustang stepped up to the other side of her, his gloves on and a smirk on his lips. She was surrounded by two of the three men who mattered the most to her, and she was confidant that Kimblee would not win. He thought otherwise, and moved to prove so. Pulling small balls that looked like sand-sacks out of his coat, he used his alchemy to change their composition and threw them at the other three alchemists. Lara dodged them, easily the fastest of the four gathered alchemists, and using her own alchemy, she threw small, compact balls of ice at Kimblee, intending to at least slow him down. But in the months that they'd been recuperating, he had gotten faster too.

Malloy took no pretense of hiding behind the smoke of Kimblee's explosions, even though he had been able to dodge almost as easily as Lara and Mustang had. Instead, he took the initiative to start calling in those clouds that had been rolling up anyway. Already, sparks of lightning could be seen in the clouds as they approached the group, and the smirk on his face told volumes of pain for the Crimson Alchemist. When the lighting started hitting the ground moments later, Kimblee knew that Malloy was not playing around, not that he ever did. But he was an arrogant little prick, Kimblee thought, so you know...assuming...

Mustang was already snapping fire at the Crimson Alchemist, and apparently his aim had been getting better, because instead of throwing exploding projectiles, Kimblee was having to dodge his, Jeff's and Lara's attacks. It made Roy grin, to keep the bastard on his feet, but he could see Lara flagging. She was not tired alchemy-wise, but her fear of Kimblee had not slackened in the months she had been away, apparently. But Jeff was not paying attention to her or to Mustang. His whole concentration was on Kimblee, as was his lightning. His mistake.

Kimblee nimbly dodged Jeff's physical assault on him, evading Malloy's grasp and managing to get within enough distance of Lara to start doing damage. He activated his alchemy and as his hand ran across one of her arms, a small portion of her flesh was blown away. Kimblee was going to dismember her piece by piece, just to drive Malloy crazy. Lara screamed, and Zolf had only moments to relish it before he felt a large shock of electricity flowing through his body. Malloy had landed a punch between his shoulder blades while he had been preoccupied with blowing flesh off of Lara. Damn. He stumbled, recovered from the blow, though his limbs twitched, and got out of the range of Malloy's more physical attacks.

Malloy didn't utter a word as he continued to attack Kimblee, all his anger forced into concentration on dragging all the lightning he possibly could from the storm raging above them, rain now falling down around them as it got stronger. A passing thought flowed through his head, a thought that not only did this storm help him, it helped Lara...she was now covered and surrounded by her alchemic element. A grin passed his lips. He wanted to finish off the arrogant prick by himself, but if Lara got to it first...well, she deserved it...she deserved justice from what he had done to her.

Tears fell from Lara's eyes, and she bit her lip in pain as she took a torn part of her shirt and tied it around her arm to stop the blood flow for now. She was breathing hard, but pushed away Hawkeye's hand and ignored her look of concern for her. When the rain started to fall around her, she blocked the pain from her mind and a grin spread across her lips. Surrounded by her element, she felt more at ease, and less scared that Kimblee would be able to get at her again. Malloy had renewed his attacks against Kimblee, and she immediately began to pull the falling water into her hands, creating a large ball of water in between her palms, it getting larger and larger as the storm raged harder, more rain falling. Soon, it was half the size of her, and she could no longer contain it between her hands. She more had to hold it now above her slightly; but that was fine, as she didn't intend to be holding it much longer.

She watched Malloy attack Kimblee, watched as lightning infused punches tore at his face and stomach, and she felt her grin renew. She hated that man, Kimblee, more that she even thought possible...and the moment Malloy stepped away from him, she'd drown his ass...he wouldn't be hurting her any more. Hawkeye, who hadn't really been anything but backup the whole fight, watched her with a strange look in her eyes, and even Mustang had stopped attacking the Crimson Alchemist when he saw the water-ball she was holding in the air. He knew what was coming...she had used this water trick on the battlefield before...at least once, he thought.

Malloy just finished tearing a chunk out of Kimblee's side with one of his punches when he noticed Lara holding that large ball of water in the air, and though he wanted to finish off the bastard by himself, he knew she wanted to do it, or at least to help. So, one swift shock to the body of the Crimson Alchemist, and all his limbs were immobilized for the next minute, plenty of time for Lara to drop that thing on his head and drown his ass. Malloy stepped back and reverently bowed his head, then grinned as she brought the ever growing sphere of water down on Kimblee. That gave him a lovely idea...something along the lines of the Crimson Alchemist's body being extremely conducive right now, while he was drowning, fighting for air. It was rather grizzly to watch that, but for the moment Malloy ignored it, and concentrated all his power and thought on bringing down the rest of the lightning from the storm.

He lifted his hands to the sky, and through the flashes of lightning, two red stones glinted in his bracers...he had more than one philosopher's stone, and being a researcher and creator of such, it was understandable...just surprising. Those two little stones, however, helped him as he decided to drag more lightning into his hands, into his body, into his angry, currently malicious power...he was building it up, the lightning, and his anger helped fuel it along. After about a minute of this, all the while watching as Kimblee fought for air and Lara was trying her hardest to hold on (she knew what he was doing, she was waiting for it), he dropped from the position of reaching for the sky, and slammed his hands to the ground, bringing down all the lightning he had summoned in two monstrous bolts of plasmic death. They both struck the ball of water, and Kimblee screamed as he was fried, allowing the water he had been fighting immediately into his lungs. Malloy smiled.

Lara held onto the water sphere just long enough to make sure Kimblee was good and dead and drowned and fried before she let it collapse, and then she too dropped, right where she had been standing. Hawkeye, having been the closest, ran to her, checked her body over and felt her pulse. Malloy immediately ran over to her too, and not meaning to, he roughly pushed Hawkeye away from the currently most important woman in his life and lifted her gently in his arms.

"Come on Lara, don't do this to me," he said after he had felt her pulse for himself...it was extremely weak, and the bandage on her arm was completely soaked with blood, more flowing down her arm by the moment. She was bleeding out, and dying...again.

"I will not almost lose you for a second time," he muttered angrily, ignoring the fact that Hawkeye and Mustang were both watching him intently, and those little chimeras that were to have been Kimblee's backup were now just staring at his corpse. He didn't care...Lara was what mattered. "Doctor Marco was a friend...and taught me a few things too..." he murmured as one of his hands slowly passed over her arm, the skin growing and knitting itself back together as the stone in his bracer flashed and glowed. He let her be for a few moments after healing her arm, and was glad to see her breathing getting stronger.

Lara coughed lightly and opened her eyes slowly, seeing Jeff above her, practically cradling her in his arms. He looked really beat up, his hair was standing on end and he had small chunks of flesh missing from his arms and chest, where his shirt had literally disintegrated from the sheer amount of power he had been using. After a moment of looking him over, watching as he did the same to her, she smiled softly, a little dribble of blood slipping out of the corner of her mouth.

He wiped it away gently, ignoring the stares of his friends, and ran a bloody, callused hand through her hair. He helped her in to a sitting position moments later, then wrapped her in such a warm loving embrace, it almost made her cry. She could feel him shaking slightly, and wrapped her arms back around him.

"Thank you," she murmured softly into his ear. "Is he dead?"

Malloy nodded as he broke the hug and stood slowly, wincing at his own wounds. He gave her a hand up and smiled at her, pointing to the corpse of the late Crimson Alchemist.

"Deader than Mustang if he keeps being such a lecher while Hawkeye is around to see it," he muttered softly with a grin. "Are you going to be all right, Skye?" he asked softly, then added, "…Lara."

She nodded, and then almost lost his balance as he kneeled in the mud. Hawkeye and Mustang stared on as Malloy pulled a little black box out of the torn pocket of his uniform pants, and looked up at Lara as he kneeled in front of her. Then he started his little spiel:

"Lara…" he murmured, fighting hard to keep from flushing as he spoke. This was the hardest thing he had ever done, so far anyway… "One, you never got to finish opening your gifts back at the offices…but now is probably the best time to do this anyway…You mean the world to me, and not only are you my best friend, but….I love you. I want you to be beside me for the rest of our lives. Will….will you marry me? No fake engagement…will you really marry me, become my wife?" he asked softly, his head dropping down slightly, as if afraid she might reject him.

Lara kind of smiled lopsidedly and nodded, dropping back to her knees in the mud. She placed a hand on either side of his face and lifted it, looking into his eyes with all the love she possessed.

"Protect me forever, and I'm yours," she murmured as she kissed him.

Mustang began to clap behind them, and Hawkeye smiled as the newly, now truly engaged couple kissed, then walked over to them, knowing they were too absorbed in their current activities to notice much else…

"Backup and the 'cleaning crews' are arriving," she murmured softly. "Maybe we should leave before they get here?" She suggested. Roy stood behind her, nodding, his arms crossed, his expression tired but happy for his friends.

Malloy broke the kiss first and nodded, looking up at Riza then back into the distance, hearing the coming vehicles and troops. He pulled the silver ring (with quite a nice mid-sized, _real_ diamond in it) out of its protective box, pulled the fake one off of her slender ring finger, and slid it onto his fiancé's bloody finger and grinned down at her as he helped her up.

She looked back up at him and a soft smile crossed her lips as a soft sigh passed through them. The party and the rest of the people back at the offices were forgeten for this night, and she wrapped her arm around his waist as all four friends began walking in no particular direction….just away from the park.

"Can we go home now, babe?" she asked softly, smiling gently and blushing ever time she glanced over at Roy and Riza, who were grinning with happiness for her.

Malloy looked down at her, pulled her gently into his arms, and kissed her. Breaking the kiss after a few moments, he grinned.

"Yeah…let's go home."

Fin

Willow: So what do you guys think?

Jeff Malloy: I think you're a raving lunatic. But you'de only take that as a compliment, damn you.

Lara: Jeff, honey, shut up. She'll make you do mean things to somebody (probably a guy::coughROYcough: ) if you're a jerk to her.

Kimblee: I wouldn't touch that ice bitch with a ten foot pole...or a twenty...you're disgusting, Willow.

Willow::grins: I know. But I was depressed and had to torture somebody, so of course you and Lara made the perfect subjects!

Kimblee, Skye, & Malloy::rolls eyes:

Willow::ignoring them now: Anyway, readers, I hope you enjoyed the story, and please review! Leave me a comment, an idea, anything! I love hearing back from you!

Ja!


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